The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said Monday that up to 200 Russian staff of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and their family members are ready to be evacuated from Iran due to U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Rosatom first evacuated 94 “non-essential staff,” children and anyone who wished to leave as the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
With 639 Russians remaining, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachyov said buses and evacuation routes have been prepared to take between 150-200 of them to safety “in the pause between the strikes.”
Part of the Bushehr staff is completing tasks that could not be immediately stopped and keeping equipment operational, Likhachyov told Rosatom’s nuclear industry publication.
He claimed President Vladimir Putin was “personally involved” in ensuring the safety of Rosatom staff in Bushehr and said a hotline had been set up for family members in Russia to get updates on their loved ones in Iran.
Likhachyov said the strikes had thus far not targeted Bushehr, the construction site or staff housing, but warned that the situation in the surrounding area “remains difficult.”
Rosatom helped Iran build Bushehr, which was connected to the national grid in 2011 with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. Moscow and Tehran agreed to build two additional reactors at Bushehr, with construction starting in 2017.
Construction of both units was suspended due to ongoing airstrikes.
Bushehr, Iran’s only operational nuclear plant, contains 72 metric tons of nuclear fuel and 210 metric tons of spent fuel, Likhachyov has said.
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